This invention relates to a racket, especially a tennis racket, of the type having a hand-grip formed of a sleeve with longitudinally extending, internal positioning ribs that rest against the grip shaft of the racket frame when the hand-grip sleeve is mounted thereon.
Such a racket, having a hand-grip formed of a sleeve with ribs that extend inwardly from the inside of walls of the grip sleeve and firmly rest against the grip shaft is disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 19 59 368. However, since the cross section of the shaft, especially when it is made of wood or of a plastic material, can only be manufactured in a certain tolerance range, especially, when it is formed of injection-molded plastic, which experiences shrinkage and, thus, can only be manufactured with a relatively large tolerance in regard to a specified size. As such, it may happen that the grip shell will be too small so that, when it is pushed on or later during the play, it will rip or even burst, or it may be too large so that a firm hold of the grip sleeve on the shaft is not ensured.
On the basis of German Offenlegungsschrift No. 21 06 800, it is known to firmly arrange a hand-grip, formed of two half-shells, on the grip shaft of a racket frame by interposing a shock or vibration damping material. The two half-shells are screwed together, and the screws penetrate the grip shaft by means of boreholes that are larger than the diameter of the screws, so that the screws do not come in contact with the walls of the boreholes. However, to ensure that the screws do not contact the walls of the boreholes, the grip must not slide on the shaft, which means that the screws must be pressed firmly against the grip shaft. These measures are aimed at ensuring that hard impacts are not transferred to the arm of the player, especially a tennis player, in an undampened manner.
Finally, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,267, in the case of a racket having a metal frame, it is known to form a grip shaft of two flat tubes of the frame that have several blocks interposed therebetween. The grip sleeve that is mounted on the grip shaft has longitudinal ribs which press against the shaft in a firm, but not a springy, fashion. Additionally, the grip shell can be slid on the shaft and can be locked in three positions.
This invention has the objective of developing a racket having a grip sleeve that is slid onto the grip shaft of the racket frame in such a way that said grip sleeve is very stable and resistant to twisting, and is either firmly or slidably arranged on the shaft, in a manner which enables the manufacturing tolerances of the shaft and/or the grip shell to be compensated for so that a firm connection between the shaft and grip shell can be achieved despite what might otherwise be unacceptable variances in size.
This objective is achieved through the provision of spring elements for enabling the hand-grip sleeve to be braced upon on the grip shaft of the racket frame without play.
The result is a grip shell that is very resistant to deformation and bending and can simply be slid onto the shaft and once on said shaft, practically cannot be deviated from the longitudinal axis of the shaft. This is achieved by means of the use of position-fixing elements in connection with the spring elements, where the position-fixing elements set, essentially, limit positions for the grip sleeve on the shaft, while the spring elements ensure a balance of tolerances and a permanent firm connection of the shaft and the grip shell.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, several embodiments in accordance with the present invention.